Tangguh EPC winner to be decided in April 2003

Anglo-American energy giant and Indonesian upstream authority BPMIGAS would likely decide the winner of Tangguh LNG plant EPC in April next year, few months later than originally planned, an industry source said.

?Currently there are three contenders that have passed preliminary and technical bid, namely Kellog Brown Root, Bechtel Corporation and Chiyoda Corporation,? said the source

?The three companies will undergo commercial bid, whose winner will be announced in March. If there are more than one company pass the bid, then BPMIGAS will pick a winner 30 days after.?

The source said with the delay, construction would likely start in mid-2003.

The LNG plant will be located in Berau Bay in the easternmost province of Papua. The plant will be able to produce 7 million tons of LNG per year from two processing train. Once complete, Tangguh will join Arun and Bontang as Indonesia's third LNG center.

The Tangguh gas fields contain 18.3 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of independently certified proved and probable natural gas reserves, with an additional 5.4 TCF of possible reserves already identified.

A two train initial development of the Tangguh LNG plant will involve more than US$ 1.5 billion of investment with additional investment required to develop the gas production facilities.

Tangguh has secured 2.6 million tons per annum LNG contract supply to the Chinese province of Fujian for 25 years, starting 2006-2007, but is looking to find more market for its excess capacity. (alex)